Angels and Turians
by Blackrain7557
Summary: Repost: A turian special forces team is caught in a never ending assault against an enemy that refuses to quit. Follow their story filled with ridiculous amounts of ammo, humor and distorted romance. Contains OC's, normal characters show later.
1. Chapter 1

The small shuttle dropped through the planet's atmosphere at a startling rate, the heat generated from the air resistance almost overcoming the shielding on the hull. The pilot struggled to keep the craft steady as it hurtled towards its destination. The speed was necessary however to keep ahead of the radar pulses that spread outward from their destination, a small mercenary outpost that had reports of a missing alliance marine unit attached to it.

The five turian crew nervously checked their armor and weapons in an attempt to steady their nerves. All were trained soldiers, but nothing could overcome the sensation that came with making a drop into enemy territory. Their nervous twitches and double checking of their equipment did not go unnoticed by their commander.

Karkin looked over his team and thought about saying something to steady them but thought better of it. _Being wary and cautious would probably keep all of us alive down there_, he thought to himself. He double checked his equipment as well, making sure he had the desired modifications installed in both his assault rifle and sniper rifle.

He glanced up at his small team and quietly said

"Comm. check on all units"

"Dagger check"

"Check Delta"

"Reaper Check"

"Hazard Check"

Four turian's, four replies, four working suit radios. So far so good, "Shadow check," intoned Karkin finishing the radio check.

"Alright, you all know the mission; we have reports of a missing Alliance Marine patrol at our current destination, spy drone reports indicate that there is a rather large mercenary post in the vicinity of the distress beacon coordinates."

Karkin paused briefly to let this information soak in and then continued.

"Thermal imaging shows several levels to the complex as well as numerous bodies both inside and out, namely 4-5 guard towers around the perimeter of the base as well as several blockades by the entrance. No turrets noted."

As he spoke Karkin passed around the data pad containing the spy drone images of the base complex and surrounding sniper towers. His team looked intently at the images, committing the information to memory. Their ability to remember the locations of all guards, towers and blockades would mean the difference of life or death in a situation.

"Two minutes to LZ Commander!" The pilot shouted into his suit radio.

Karkin motioned for his team to prepare for the coming drop point, helmets snapped into place and armor seals and shields were checked and activated.

Karkin leaned over the pilots shoulder, squinting out of the small windows set in the front of the small craft's cockpit. As they flew low over the landscape all he could see was blue ground rushing by, with mountains in the distance. He thought he could just make out the outline of the mercenary base in the distance when the pilot alerted him of the thirty second mark to the LZ.

Karkin turned and gave a quick signal to his crew to prepare for their departure as soon as the craft touched down. He checked his own seals on his suit and readied his sniper rifle in preparation for the drop. The ship jolted as the air brakes were applied and the craft came in for its landing run. The back of the ship opened and the five man team quickly filed out of the drop ship as it came in low to the ground. They cleared the landing area and spread out as the ship quickly took off and flew into the horizon.

"We will radio for pick-up once the location and status of the distress beacon and marines is confirmed, Karkin out!"

The pilot double clicked his radio in acknowledgment and in confirmation of radio silence that was the norm on all of the missions he ran with Karkin's team.

The team checked their omni-tools as the mission checkpoints came on line, their current position was 2 clicks south of the first checkpoint.

Karkin stood and quietly voiced his orders. "Move out...Reaper; keep an eye on your radar. We have only a brief window here; our orders only give us a few hours to complete this mission. So we go in hard and fast and hopefully rescue any marines still alive if any." Karkin looked over his team, as they readied their weapons and began to move out. He had personally fought beside his squad-mates for two years now and they had an unspoken language developed. He watched them all nod, adjust their grip on their rifles and lope off at an easy gait.

The team started forward towards their objective, each member thinking over his life, remembering their victories, their losses, it was a ritual to them to review their lives, in preparation for death. They all knew that fate could call for them at anytime, and they wanted to be ready for it.

After about twenty minutes of hurried hiking they reached the first checkpoint, the location where the distress beacon had been transmitted. Karkin raised his hand in a fist, his black colossus armor a stark contrast against the landscape. The team halted and spread out weapons raised to shoulders, wary of a trap.

"Reaper, take the cliffs and provide recon and sniper support."

Karkin got a confirmation from Reaper as the turian quickly sprinted towards and elevated position, his talons kicking up clouds of blue dust from the planet's surface.

He turned back to the scene in front of him, looking over the small valley in front of him. His luminescent green eyes scanned over the wreckage of what looked to be two or three M35's or Mako armored attack vehicles, standard Alliance military craft. The wreckage told of a missile attack that quickly disabled the vehicles if not outright destroying them in the first volley. If the vehicles had withstood the initial attack then they were later destroyed, possibly to cover up any indication of an ambush. With the amount of dust kicked up by the amount of wind that would be pretty easy Karkin reasoned.

"Any signs of an ambush or what could have possibly happened" Karkin queried over his suit radio.

"Footprints and spent rocket casings, looks like about ten to twenty men, can't get an accurate count with all of the footprints and the wind messing everything up." replied Delta.

"Confirm use of rocket pods, I have 4 empty launcher tubes over here" confirmed Hazard.

"Tracks indicating several transport vehicles heading towards the merc base commander." this last bit coming from Dagger who was standing near the entrance to the valley.

"Any bodies indicating casualties on either side?"

"No commander, even if there were I'm sure they would be covered by the dust at this point." replied Delta.

Karkin cursed at the situation that confronted him and decided on the next course of action. He knew the likelihood that the marines were alive was slim to none, but if that was true the mercenaries still had to be dealt with. Even though it wasn't a part of the mission guidelines he knew that if he let the mercs continue on this way that they would probably grow more ambitious and possibly civilians would be in danger of attack.

He looked up, feeling all eyes on him waiting for a decision on what to do. He realized he had been standing still for longer than he should have been and shook his head clearing his thoughts.

"Commander?" The question came from Reaper, "What's the plan?"

He stood for a moment, thinking over his options; looking down at the blue ground in front of him he flexed his talons crunching the dust and gravel below.

"Our objectives include eliminating any threat and searching any nearby bases for possible casualties and hostages as well as enemy intel. Move out." Karkin quickly answered and began moving down the escarpment.

Karkin gave one more glance around the valley floor and followed Reaper down towards his squad. He hoped that some of the marines had managed to make it out of the ambush. He along with any other self-respecting soldier in the universe hated mercenaries and everything they didn't stand for as the case may be. Working only for money and profit and doing whatever it took to make a quick credit was unthinkable to the turian society.

Delta, Hazard and Dagger fell in pace with them, listening intently as Karkin laid out a plan, offering suggestions and making sure that all thinkable options were covered. The team flowed as one; a single entity moving across the barren planet. They all knew that time was of the essence, the longer the humans were held hostage the better the chances were that they would no longer be useful and would be executed. The five turians quickly melted into the surrounding darkness, leaving behind the scene of destruction and moving on toward their goal.

* * *

The mercenaries milled about on the outside of the base, all waiting for their replacements to get outside so they could be relieved and not have to stand out in the harsh wind and dust. None of them expected any trouble, they weren't being paid that much to worry, half of them were still drunk from the night before, the ambush had gone off perfectly and that in itself was cause for celebration. The fact that they had hostages was just icing on the cake.

One of the tower guards, a hardened man name Isaacs was listening to the lewd jokes and banter between the men below him. He along with the other three men in the towers and most of the guys on the ground all hated patrol duty, with all of the dust and wind on the surface of the planet it was almost unbearable. Almost, but with the copious amount of booze that was available to the men it was tolerable. He thought back to their latest conquest, the ambush they had setup for any alliance patrol stupid enough to check out the distress beacon they had setup. It had almost been too easy, but he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Isaacs....ISAACS!" came in over his headset as the base commander radioed him.

"What's up boss?"

"We may have a small problem, radar caught the tail end of a small scout craft coming in about thirty minutes ago, could be surveyors, could be alliance marines, either way keep an eye out. We have too much going on here to be interrupted."

"Roger that commander." Isaacs heard the radio disconnect on the other end and wondered quietly to himself what had put the commander on edge. Granted the shady circumstances under which they had been recruited gave all of the men pause to consider what they were really doing here, but credits were credits and no one really cared that much.

He clicked the frequency that the rest of the men and quickly told them the situation.

"Alright guys, we may have some company coming in, no idea who or what they are, but it could be Alliance marines looking for their missing troops, we still don't know if those green horns got off a distress signal or not so keep your eyes open."

He got acknowledgement from the men on the ground when he heard the first shot ring out from the surrounding cliffs that over looked their base of operations. He only had a split second to register the sound before a high explosive round put an end to his thoughts forever.

* * *

"Hold fire until my signal," was the order they had been given, the small turian team had quickly found the mercenaries' base of operations and setup sniping positions, each turian pulling out their custom sniper rifle and finding their target. Karkin had given the instructions not to fire until he had gotten into his overlook position and surveyed the enemy encampment.

"Count is thirteen" he said quietly as he looked down the scope on his rifle quickly scanning the area, "take the four tower guards on my mark, and then open fire on the rest of the ground crew."

Karkin steadied his breathing as he took aim at what looked to be the lead mercenary; it was always hard to tell who was in command because of the informal command structure many mercs used. Normally it was the toughest or the smartest one in the group. The particular one he was looking at had Predator armor on and a nasty looking assault rifle, the others in the group had anything and everything ranging from the lowest level of equipment to some of the cheaper options from decent equipment manufacturers.

He leveled his aim and activated his weapons firing controls; he set the electronic sight on his targets head and quietly whispered "Fire" as he squeezed the trigger with his talon.

Four shots echoed out right after his, all of them finding their mark in their designated target. Karkin briefly saw that one or two of his teammates had elected to use high explosive rounds as larger puffs instantly disintegrated the tower occupants and in one case took the top off of the tower completely.

The rest of the mercenaries on the ground looked around stupidly as their companions started dying around them from accurate and deadly sniper fire. Karkin could only note with grim satisfaction that from start to finish the entire encounter had taken under two minutes to deal with. Standing he slipped his rifle onto his back, pulled his assault rifle and hurried down the hill to survey the damage.

The team quickly stripped the dead mercenaries of any credits, weapons and other gear they could use or sell and piled the bodies under a few of the barricades so a first glance no one would notice anything wrong. Karkin inspected the few bodies that had been hit by high explosive rounds and inwardly smirked at the firepower his team liked to carry.

"So whose handiwork is this?" he asked motioning to a couple of bodies that were nearly unidentifiable from the high explosive rounds that were used.

He heard a couple of laughs over the radio as Reaper piped up, "Sorry boss, just picked them up at our last stop at the citadel, top of the line rounds, felt like giving them a go."

Karkin shook his head, and promptly chastised him for his over zealousness of terminating the enemy.

"Right...next time you decide to terminate someone with extreme prejudice, let me know first...thank your scales that those pressure doors are sound proof on the base otherwise you could have blown the entire operation." said Karkin suddenly becoming serious.

Karkin motioned for the team to finish their gruesome business before taking position in front of the airlock that sealed the main base off from the outside.

Delta quickly hacked the door controls and the team entered the airlock. Once inside they removed their helmets for better movement and sight. Stashing their plundered loot in a nearby container they quickly took up positions near the inner airlock door, Delta and Reaper flanking it, Karkin and Hazard on either side of them.

The door silently opened to a large room typical of the planetary bases, with large crates scattered around the area, mercenaries patrolled around, some looking like they were still drunk from the previous night, evidence of which was scattered around the area, broken bottles and crates littered the ground.

The turian infiltration team spread out in the dimly lit room, quietly entering and closing the door behind them. Hand signals showed the count of visible count of mercs at six in the immediate area, radar showed contacts above and below but without any kind of accurate count.

"Spread out and open fire on my mark..." the rest of the order was cut off as a drunken mercenary stumbled into Karkin and began to ask stupidly "Who are yo..." when Karkin drove a combat knife under the human mercenary's arm, severing several arteries and puncturing his heart. The human died in a gurgle of blood with the rest of the mercenaries noticing finally that there were five turians in serious looking armor brandishing weapons at them...

Karkin's team quickly took cover and opened fire, dropping three contacts immediately. They heard the mercs anxiously yelling into radios for reinforcements and saw doors open both on the upper levels as well as a door near the back of the room and more enemies flood out into the area.

Hazard and Dagger took the left side of the room, flanking the mercenaries who were grouped in the middle, Hazard's assault rifle blazing away at anything that moved while Dagger opened fire on the unsuspecting targets with incendiary rounds from his shotgun.

Reaper moved with Karkin down the right side of the room, pouring rounds into the large Krogan that had stormed into the room after the cry for help had gone out. The shredder rounds in their assault rifles impacted on the Krogan's shields as he returned fire with his shotgun.

Delta was busy near Hazard and Delta, detonating tech-mines to overload weapons and shields.

The mercenaries dropped quickly, their poor quality shields and armor no match for the infiltration team and their top of the line equipment. Shredder rounds ripped through shields and armor, nearly obliterating the hapless mercenaries with concentrated bursts of fire. Delta began moving up the middle of the room his pistol barking as he put round after round into his targets; their shields and guns overloaded from his hacking and electronic skills.

Dagger's incendiary rounds made short work of many of the mercs who were hiding in the maze of crates, nearly vaporizing some of them on impact. Hazard stood behind him concentrating on the few snipers on the balcony above them, the sledge hammer rounds he had equipped slamming many back against the wall and punching large holes in their armor.

Karkin and Reaper had managed to put down the Krogan after nearly overheating their assault rifles from the constant firing at an enemy that refused to die. Finally the Krogan's body had accepted its death as its wounds took their toll, numerous bullet holes riddled its body and armor and the krogan lay in a rather large pool of orange blood.

What seemed like a long brutal assault for the mercenaries was actually a five minute skirmish for the turian infiltration team. Their training and experience let them quickly put down the resistance and finish any stragglers off quickly.

The team quickly regrouped and took assessment of the situation, letting their shields regenerate from lucky hits that the mercenaries had managed to score in their drunken stupor. Their high end colossus armor left little chance of a round actually penetrating.

Delta and Hazard moved upstairs finishing off any stragglers and clearing rooms of mercs, equipment and any computer terminals that were working.

The rest of the team quickly began the task of looting the bodies and containers around them for equipment and credits since military wages didn't provide enough for their high end armor and weapons.

"Hazard, Delta, any information on the computers upstairs?"

"Beginning download now commander" replied Delta, "It's all encrypted and we don't have the equipment to crack it here."

"Alright, hurry up and get back down here, looks like there is a lower level we need to clear."

Karkin paused and surveyed the surroundings, the dim lighting barely showing the blood stains from the variety of enemy combatants, from blue turian blood, to the orange of the lone Krogan to the numerous patches of red that spread out under the bodies that littered the floor.

"Dagger, Reaper, any signs of the missing marines?"

"Negative commander, nothing to indicate that there were any survivors, but any gear could be in one of these crates or stashed down stairs..." was the reply from Dagger.

"Alright, finish your rounds and then regroup at the lower level entrance." Karkin silently walked through the carnage that was the previous engagement. The light reflected off of the black scales that covered his face, his clan markings barely visible in the poor light.

A dying mercenary lay against a crate, a large hole in his chest the source of his problems wheezing faster as Karkin approached. Without looking down Karkin drew his pistol and put a round through the mercenary's head, ending the dying man's life. He took no pleasure in his work, only a grim satisfaction that they had avenged, for the most part, and the marines that had been ambushed in the valley. Karkin held little remorse for men and aliens who called themselves mercenaries, and it showed whenever he and his team encountered them.

Karkin had seen too many atrocities committed by the so-called soldiers of fortune in the name of credits. They had attacked too many colonies and killed too many innocent lives in their never ending pursuit of money.

He ran an armored hand over his head and sighed, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind, focusing instead on the task before him. Focusing on things long past wouldn't make the present any easier and would only give their enemies a better chance of catching them unawares.

Karkin glanced over at Reaper, who had served with him the longest as he pulled his pistol and ended another dying mercenary's pathetic life.

Reaper was an average turian, brown scales, dark eyes, born and raised on Palaven, sent into military training at 15; he later joined up with Karkin in the Special Forces section of the turian military, a lesser known unit, but a very important one nonetheless. Reaper and Karkin had served together in the standard service, becoming fast friends and teammates. When the opportunity for them had come to join the Special Forces unit they currently served in they jumped at the chance. There they had met Hazard, Delta and Dagger, and became one of the more successful units to operate within the turian military.

At that moment Hazard, Delta and Dagger arrived, grouping up near the door while readying themselves for the next battle, checking their weapons in preparation for what they knew would be another fight.

Moving up to his squad Karkin motioned for them to enter the lower base, "Alright, let's go finish these bastards off and see if there are any survivors from the ambush."

* * *

The mercenary commander watched the security tapes from the upper levels, watched as his men were slaughtered mercilessly, watched as his 2nd in command, the Krogan battle master was taken down in a hail of gun fire. He watched as what looked to be the turian in charge shot the dying merc in the head, seeing no hesitation in the action.

He knew at that moment he was dealing with a highly trained and well equipped strike force who was probably coming for any survivors of the ambush they had setup for the alliance marines. Typing quickly he sent an encrypted message to his contact for the group that had hired him to plan and execute the attack on the alliance patrol. He knew that the men who hired him would be very interested in the footage and sent that along as well with the message. That completed he executed the virus program that would completely wipe the computer systems in the building clean and then moved to his personal locker, removing his assault rifle and pistol.

"Alright listen up all of you," he spoke through his radio, "it looks like we have an enemy team incoming through the stairwell, setup ambush positions and wait for them to enter, its either them or us and they aren't taking prisoners."

Immediately the remaining mercenaries gathered their guns and ammo and ran to the stairwell to the surface. They thundered down the hallway towards the lone door at the back of the complex.

Their leader made his way towards the lone prison cell that was housed at the far end, looking in on the lone prisoner they had taken from the wreckage of the Mako ambush. Silver eyes glared at him from the darkness, their fire dimming slowly as he stared back.

"Must be your lucky day, looks like some friends are coming to get you..."

The eyes seemed to glow brighter at the small hope that rescue was possible sunk in.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter...2

Delta was crouched in the shadows, focused on his omni-tool, watching the small screen and the radar that was blinking on screen. He signaled to the rest of the team to hold their positions as Karkin crouched next to him. They both looked at the screen intently as the forms of 15-20 mercenaries ran down the hall way. Delta tapped a few keys as the figures on the screen approached the door leading to the stair well. They took up defensive positions behind crates and steel plating in preparation for what they thought was a force coming down the stair well.

"Open up the welcome package," whispered Karkin, Delta tapped a few more keys and watched as a countdown began on his screen. Behind him the rest of the strike team prepared for the assault.

At that moment several mines that were placed both on the door and around the vicinity of the stair well detonated. Flashing, stunning and otherwise incapacitating the entrenched mercenaries that were crouched around waiting for the infiltration team to come charging through the door. Many were disoriented and confused at the sudden assault on their senses, dropping their guns and covering their eyes at the sudden flash.

The door in front of them exploded outward as the mine planted on it detonated, shattering the door and killing the mercs who had stood too close by.

Karkin and his team moved in for the kill while the mercs were still stunned and blinded. They quickly stormed the surprised mercenaries, putting most of them down before they even knew what hit them. Bullets tore through armor and tissue as the shredder rounds did their job. Within a minute more than half of the mercenary force had been taken out of the equation. Within two minutes the rest would no longer bother anyone.

The strike team moved throughout the rest of the level, clearing room after room where more mercenaries had sought cover after the initial attack. Bullet holes were quickly followed by shattered armor fragments and blood as the remaining enemies were quickly and efficiently eliminated.

Karkin caught movement out of the corner of his eye as a Krogan mercenary rushed him from another room to his left. All at once the team spun and concentrated their fire on the beast, pouring round after round into the thick armor and hide of the giant alien. Krogan were notoriously hard to kill as their physique could absorb massive amounts of damage as well as their unique ability to shrug off hit after hit that was scored on them.

Karkin felt himself flying through the air as the krogan hit him full on, he heard his armor splinter at the force of the impact and his ribs flex then crack as he hit the wall behind him. Lights danced around in his head as he sagged to the floor, shock and adrenaline diverting the pain. He saw the krogan yelling in rage and pain as the shredder rounds from his team tore into him, briefly he saw the shotgun the krogan was holding turn towards him in a final death spasm but a final round must have torn through the aliens spine and shutdown his nervous system, for at that moment the Krogan let out a wheeze and collapsed.

Karkin lay on the floor trying to regain his breath, as well as trying to clear the fuzz from his head as his team finished off the few surviving mercs in the area and then turned back to help him. His armor had absorbed much of the impact from the initial hit and his impact with the wall. His armor had begun releasing medi-gel into his wounds, compliments of the built in medical systems. Karkin silently thanks his armory officer for installing the medical systems in his armor after their last misadventure where he had ended up getting thrown across a room by an angry krogan.

Dagger the medical officer on the team quickly disengaged Karkin's damaged armor and started applying bandages and medi-gel to his cracked ribs. Karkin looked forlornly at his ruined colossus shell and shook his head, knowing it was going to cost quite a bit of credits to replace it.

"Well at least experience has taught you one thing sir..." piped up Hazard.

"Oh and what would that be?" Karkin retorted, hissing at the pain speaking caused.

Hazard chuckled softly as he spoke, "Well you at least learned from getting pummeled from the last krogan you encountered."

Karkin only shook his head as he recalled the situation;

They had been on and assignment to clear out a merc base in another galaxy, everything had gone to plan up until three krogan got the drop on the team. One of them managed to charge Karkin putting him into much the same situation he found himself in now.

Karkin just shook his head again as Dagger asked him if he was alright and winced in pain as he stood up, replacing his armor as he went. He grabbed his dropped assault rifle and checked it for damage.

"If you have all had enough of a laugh at my expense there are still a few rooms to clear and we need to check for prisoners yet." Karkin motioned with his talons for the squad to move out as he held his injured chest against the pain. He hissed briefly as his ribs grated on one another and then pushed past the pain flaring in his chest.

He stepped over the dead krogan blocking the door way and listened as his team engaged in what looked to be the last bit of resistance left in the dying mercenary base. He saw his team quickly take out two more krogan guards and what looked to be the mercenary leader, a burly bearded man who had what looked to be the newest Predator armor from Armax Arsenal as well as what seemed to be a rather large shotgun. Bullets from all four members of his squad ripped through shields, armor and flesh in an instant blaze of gunfire. What looked to be a sledgehammer round punched through and blew him back several feet into the room from which he had emerged.

Karkin watched as his team cleared the room and secured any remaining equipment, a feeling of pride flow through him at his squad's achievement of clearing a particularly nasty merc base. He spun at a sound to his left that seemed to come from a darkened room.

Lifting his assault rifle he took a few steps closer to the door and heard another noise, this time a small moan coming from what looked to be a prison cell. He inspected the lock and promptly put a few rounds into it, cracking the locking mechanism and blowing the entire contraption off of the door.

He clicked on a light on his omni-tool and carefully opened the door and glanced inside. The light lit up a small room that contained a battered figure suspended from the ceiling by handcuffs. The figure shifted as the light moved across the room. Karkin could tell that it was a human female, her clothes in tatters and what looked to be bruises across her face and arms.

"Strike team converge on my position, I have a survivor here that needs immediate medical care and extraction." Karkin radioed as he moved in to release the woman in front of him. She groaned again as he released her arms from the restraints that held her to the ceiling.

"Can you stand?" he asked as he released the first restraint. The woman shook her head, her black hair shining in the dim light.

"I can't feel my legs for the most part, I don't think they are broken but I have been hanging here for a while." was the reply he received.

"My name is Karkin, what's yours?"

"Kira" her voice fading as the shock of what was happening sunk into her.

Karkin finally released the last restraint as Kira looked him in the eyes wanting to see the face of her rescuer. He looked down at her as she fell against him, noticing the brilliant silver eyes staring intently back at him. He caught her as she dropped, her legs giving out beneath her.

He felt her weight against him as she passed out in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder as the shock from her ordeal overtook her system.

At that moment the rest of his squad came up behind him seeing that he was holding the lone surviving member of the attack that had been planned against the marines. Dagger moved to help the soldier when Karkin shook his head and instead picked her up and carried her as one would carry a child, one arm under her legs, another supporting her back, the rest of her draped across his chest and her head resting on his shoulder.

"She has no immediate injuries, but we should get her off of this planet as soon as possible. Hazard and Delta check the rest of the base for any stragglers and any possible information that may have been left on the computers. Dagger and Reaper get up top and radio for the drop ship to come pick us up, we need immediate extraction."

His team nodded and moved off about their duties, Karkin following Reaper and Dagger up to the surface, taking a few seconds to examine the human he held in his arms. He looked at her sleeping form, noting the strength in her expression even as she slept. He brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes with a free talon, noticing the blue streak that ran through her otherwise black hair. Something in his heart went out to the figure that lay in his arms, he didn't quite know why, but he felt that something had passed between the two of them when she looked at him. Karkin shook his head,_ she was just happy to be rescued is all..._he thought to himself.

He shook his head at the random thoughts and continued up to the first level where he saw Reaper waiting for him; Reaper just raised an eye ridge giving Karkin a knowing look as he carried the unconscious marine towards the front of the base.

Delta and Hazard joined them after a few minutes after grabbing an exposure suit from a nearby locker to seal the marine in to protect her from the howling wind and dust. They then sealed their own suits and helmets and prepared to head out to the drop ship that was waiting for them.

Karkin felt his ribs grinding against one another as he moved and nearly fainted from the pain. _There must have been more damage than I originally__ thought_, he reasoned to himself.

As the team moved outside they could hear the drop ship's engines over the wind and saw Dagger motioning for them to hurry up as the pilot set the small craft down. Hazard, Delta and Reaper quickly threw their equipment bags full of the looted weapons they had grabbed over their shoulders as they ran hunched over towards the waiting ship.

Karkin followed quickly wincing at the pain he felt in his chest and the damage the wind was doing to the crack in his armor. He boarded the drop ship and set the woman down on a seat strapping her in and removing her helmet. He glanced again at her features, brushing away the hair that had fallen across her face.

Feeling embarrassed he quickly took a seat next to her and removed his own helmet stashing it in the rack above him. He leaned back, resting his head against the cold metal of the ship quickly falling asleep. Briefly he saw the rest of his squad doing the same the fighting having taken its toll on them, the last thing he saw before he fell asleep was Reaper staring intently at him, his deep blue eyes showing nothing of his emotions.


	3. Chapter 3

_Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep..._

Karkin groggily awoke to what he deemed was the most awful sound in the world, that and the splitting headache he had wasn't making matters any better. He felt the rough sheets against his chest, the pillow under his head and the smell of disinfectant.

_Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep...Beep..._

_Medical bay...damn it..._

Karkin slowly opened his eyes, confirming his thoughts; the clean metal interior along with the harsh white lights gave no room for imagination as to where he was. He tried sitting up, which immediately did two things.

The first was a sharp pain in his abdomen, which meant cracked ribs or worse, the second, was several angry beeps from the machine next to his bed indicating that he had managed to screw up yet again.

Karkin lay back on the bed, wincing against the searing pain that accompanied his attempted rise. He heard a door open somewhere to his right and footsteps moving quickly towards his location.

"So it seems once again you have managed to get yourself smacked around by yet another krogan..." this statement was followed by a knowing smirk from the ship's doctor, an asari by the name of Alera.

"How bad is it?" Karkin asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Well minus the concussion you got, you have three broken ribs, numerous bruises, and the collapse of your armor caused some issues, but otherwise you were okay after we got you stabilized." replied Alera as she walked over to one of the machines currently attached to the turian, checking the readouts.

Karkin sighed at the information, unhappy that he was now lying in the place he hated most on-board the cruiser that housed his unit.

"So how long before I'm able to get back to my duties?" he quickly asked, turning towards the asari.

Alera turned to look at him again raising her eyebrow and crossing her arms over her chest like a mother would do to a child.

"You just woke up after being out cold for three days recov..."

"THREE DAYS!" Karkin yelled mandible flaring as he rose from his bed ignoring the pain he felt in his torso.

Alera held out her hands, palms facing him trying to pacify the angry alien.

"Would you be quiet! There is someone else in here besides your accident prone self." she hissed while glaring at him.

At this Karkin quieted and muttered his apologies to the doctor as he looked around the medical bay, his attention catching on the lone figure laying in another bed to his left. In the brief glance he got Karkin recognized the woman they had rescued from the merc compound three days previously. She was sleeping, her steady breathing indicating that she was either sedated or sleeping peacefully.

Without taking his eyes off of her Karkin quietly spoke; "How is she?"

Alera lowered her hand at his quick change in attitude and paused before answering the unpredictable turian.

"She went through a lot, mainly shock, dehydration, lack of food, bruising and a cocktail of drugs in her system."

"In other words they wanted information from her..." was the quiet reply.

"Yes, the scan showed that the drugs were part of a truth serum that they used on her, not to mention the number of bruises on her torso and face indicating physical abuse."

"Do you know who she is?"

Alera nodded and spoke, "Her name is Commander Kira White, of the Alliance Navy. I gave all pertinent information to the Captain."

Karkin nodded at this, turning back to Alera her quiet demeanor calming him somewhat from his previous mood swing. He hissed as he lay back on his bed, his injuries flaring in pain again. Alera quickly pulled a small container of medi-gel out of a cabinet behind her and moved to Karkin's side, pulling off the bandages that were wrapped tight around his middle.

Alera blinked at the massive bruise and cuts that made up the injury on the turian's chest. The colossus armor may have prevented the Krogan from doing any permanent damage, but in the end brute force can overcome even the strongest of armor. And getting hit full on by a Krogan was no exception, the armor had been punctured and dented inwards, causing his internal injuries as well as mass bruising and a rather nasty gash that would scar in due time.

Looking down at the newly revealed wound, Karkin no longer wondered if there was a higher power in the universe...he _knew_. A groan passed his mandibles as Alera prodded his chest, checking on the healing fractures and applying medi-gel as she did so. Her dexterous fingers worked quickly over the wound applying the healing salve that consisted of a complex formula of anti-viral and anti-bacterial agents, clotting agents, as well as a local anesthetic that allowed for near instant treatment of most wounds on the battlefield.

Alera knew that only time would heal the fractured ribs that Karkin had, but the medi-gel would help to control the pain as well as preventing the open wound from getting worse and having an infection set in. She worked quickly to minimize any lasting pain from her touch and re-wrapped his chest with clean bandages.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

Karkin grunted in reply, "Yea well, I would be feeling a hell of a lot better had I not been tossed across a room by an angry Krogan."

Leaning over the prone turian Alera grinned sweetly before commenting; "Well maybe if the big bad-ass turian commander would pay attention to his surroundings, Krogan wouldn't keep popping up and smacking you around..."

Karkin just glowered at the asari doctor as she began to go about other business within the medical ward of the cruiser, the SSV Manhattan.

_Why couldn't she have been just a medical doctor...instead I get a smart-ass as my savior...figures..._

Karkin huffed to himself for a short while, fuming about being reminded of his faults from an asari of all people, who had a thousand years to get their flaws worked out. But he liked Alera, she was one of the few aliens on-board the SSV Manhattan. With most of the crew being of the human variety, he appreciated having another non-human entity on board the ship, even if she was a pain in the ass.

Karkin rolled over again, ignoring the slight twinge in his chest and did his best to get some natural rest before he was required back on active duty.

oOo.

Reaper looked over his weapons that lay out on the table before him; every one of them cleaned and set to his specifications. Some called him obsessive for constantly cleaning and modifying his guns, but he believed in being prepared for anything.

He grabbed them one by one and stored them neatly away in his locker in the barracks level and entered his personal code, locking the unit until he needed them again. Around him the rest of the turian squad did the same, checking their gear and returning the gear to their individual storage lockers. The rest of the ship's crew bustled about their assigned tasks, from moving equipment, monitoring terminals and otherwise going on about their daily lives on the SSV Manhattan.

A beep came from his omni-tool, signaling that he had received a message; quickly he tapped the display and read the communiqué;

**Norik,**

**Karkin is awake and resting, thought you would like to know.**

**Dr. Alera**

_Why is it so hard for people to just use Reaper? _Norik thought to himself.

Stepping back from his locker Norik caught the attention of the rest of the team with a raised hand and moved towards the area reserved for the ground teams with the rest of the unit following behind him.

"Any news on Karkin?" asked Delta.

"Just got a message from Alera, the doc says he's awake, other than that no idea." came the reply.

The team quickly moved down the hallways towards their private quarters; the cruiser had private barracks areas for the ground teams, while the rest of the staff on board had to deal with the cramped and uncomfortable sleeper pods.

"Have you heard anything about the human we pulled out of that base?" questioned Dagger.

"Nothing from the doc, but I'm sure we will find out something once our orders come in from command, I was told they sent in her information as well, trying to get a profile or something on her. Regardless I'm sure the whole situation will be blown over and we'll get back to patrolling the outer planets like always." replied Norik.

"Humans never seem to really want to know the reasoning behind a situation, as long as the problem is dead they don't care." commented Hazard.

"You could say that about some of our leaders, hard headed politicians who only care about the end results, not why it got that way" came the reply from Delta.

"Stow the chatter you two! I'm not going to sit through another political discussion from the two of you, we have orders, we follow them, end of story. If the higher ups decide the situation is worth looking into we will, otherwise we go about our normal business." said Norik who did not sound amused by the continuing argument.

"Someone's grumpy, you eat a bad stone or something?" came the snappy reply from Hazard.

The team had reached the small barracks assigned to them, and Norik turned to the team before speaking.

"Tarrus...keep it up and you'll be on rifle duty for the next six months...as for the rest of you, you have a few hours to yourselves, I'll get in touch with you if Karkin is up or we have other orders...Dismissed."

The team nodded in acknowledgment and went their separate ways, Hazard and Dagger to their rooms and Delta out back towards the main sections of the ship. Norik stood for a moment, and ran a taloned hand over his head before turning to his own rooms. Quickly punching in the code to his lock he moved inside, the heat helping to sooth the massive headache he had.

Moving inside the small room, Norik opened a small cupboard and took a small glass and a bottle that was filled with a brilliant green liquid. Wrenching off the top of the bottle, he quickly poured a small amount of the drink into the glass and replaced the bottle to its original location. Taking a quick sip Norik stared at a picture of Delta, Karkin, Hazard, Dagger and himself standing in front of a statue depicting a turian in armor, assault rifle raised.

Taking another sip of his drink Norik glanced up at a mirror set into the wall of his cabin, his eyes ran over his face and numerous scars, the dark green tribal tattoos that represented their military training, and finally dark blue eyes meeting their reflection in the mirror. He shook his head roughly, then downed the remainder of his drink and set the glass on the table. Moving to the bed he quickly stripped to a pair of shorts and let the heat of his cabin along with the alcohol in his system help him into a dreamless sleep.

oOo.

The turian known as Delta moved quickly through the ship, navigating the maze of corridors and walkways with a practiced ease, his movement certain and fluid. He received looks from the human crew, many of which were nervous to have a highly trained and specialized turian Special Forces team on their ship, not that Delta was overly worried about any of them starting trouble, they had kept to themselves for the most part, only engaging in conversation when needed with the higher ranked officers on board.

Delta shook off the looks thrown his way and continued on towards his goal, the markings on the wall indicating he was nearing the ship's mess hall. The door's swooshed open and he made his way past a few salarian's who were talking quickly, even for their species, and moved to the dextro-protein side of the food dispensers and dialed up two cups of what in essence was a protein shake, with nutrients and healthiness thrown in. While the mash wasn't particularly tasty to anyone, it made sure that the turians were able to eat on board the otherwise human cruiser.

Grabbing the two "drinks" he snagged an orange from a nearby container and moved back into the hallways of the ship, quickly coming to the medical bay, there he elbowed the door button and stood back as the door swooshed open in front of him.

Inside was dimly lit, the only light coming from glow strips along the floor and the various machines and blinking lights scattered throughout the small room. Inside he could see the asari doctor standing by a desk, the glow from the monitor in front of her casting shadows along the wall.

He stepped into the room, feeling the door close behind him which finally alerted the asari doctor that there was someone else in the room with her. Alera looked up quickly and turned around her hand resting on a pistol that sat on the table.

Delta quickly froze as Alera reached out with her other hand snapping on a light above the doorway.

"Didn't your mother teach you any manners Xerov?" she asked quickly recovering from her momentary shock and removed her hand from the pistol.

"Haven't I told you to call me Delta?" he retorted.

"Yes well, that's too easy...are you here to see Karkin?"

Xerov nodded and held up the two cups he held as well as the orange he had brought.

"Thought you could use something as well, haven't seen you around much."

Raising one eyebrow Alera nodded in acceptance as Xerov moved forward and offered her the orange. She watched as he set one of the cups on the table next to Karkin's bed before taking a drink of his own.

"How is he doing?" he asked looking at Karkin before moving his gaze to the asari.

"Fine for the most part, temperamental as always, but otherwise unharmed" she replied as she peeled the orange and popped a slice into her mouth. "Thanks for the orange by the way; I haven't had a chance to really get out of here since you brought these two in."

"No problem, figured it was the least I could do, you always having to patch us up and all..." Delta paused as he caught Alera smiling at him from where she was standing.

"What..."

"Nothing, just nice to have someone other than the alliance marines to talk too, that's all." was the quiet reply as the doctor continued eating her orange.

Turning to look at Karkin lying on the bed, seeing the bandages wrapped over his chest Xerov could only wince as he took in the extent of the damage the rampaging krogan had inflicted on his commander.

"He has a fatal attraction to them doesn't he?" Xerov asked turning back to Alera.

"If you mean getting smacked around by krogan...then that would be an overwhelming yes." she replied, a hint of amusement in her voice.

Xerov turned his attention back to her, seeing that she had finished her orange...and had she moved closer to him, or was it the lighting?

"Well it doesn't look like he's going to wake up anytime soon, I should get going..." he said quickly, finishing his meal and throwing it in a nearby receptacle.

Alera just nodded, a shadow passing quickly over her features, knowing that the turian before her wasn't one to sit around and chat...their military programming compelled them to be doing something proactive.

"Well stop around more often, it's nice to have someone other than the marines on this ship to talk to..."

Xerov shifted on his feet before nodding at the doctor and quickly spinning on his heel and nearly running out of the medical lab, he wasn't used to a situation that called for something other than large amounts of gunfire or ammunition.

Alera simply smiled at the turian's hasty exit before turning back to the two patients who were still sleeping before returning to her quarters to get some much needed rest herself.


	4. Chapter 4

After getting some much needed rest Alera stretched and got ready for the day, or the time she designated to be awake, day and night being nearly irrelevant on a twenty-four hour schedule that the SSV Manhattan used. She quickly showered and dressed and moved to check on Karkin and the human female, Kira. Stepping out of her quarters in the medical lab she noticed that Karkin was already up and attempting to get dressed.

"Going somewhere Karkin?" she quickly asked, slightly irritated that he looked guilty as he turned to her as if he was trying to escape and didn't want to be caught.

"Apparently not..." he answered quickly, lying back on the bed doing his best not to wince as he did so.

"You military personnel are all alike you know...stubborn to the core and eager to get back into the action. I guess I should have known that you would be eager to get out of here though." Alera commented as she went to look at one of the diagnostic read-outs that were attached to Karkin.

"Well how long before I'm able to get back to my duties then?" Karkin asked quietly, the double voice trait that their race featured making it sound like an echo.

"Well let me take a look at your chest and I'll let you know." the doctor replied easily.

Swiftly she removed the bandages that covered Karkin's chest and began to inspect the large bruise that sat there as an ugly reminder of his run in with the Krogan. The cuts and scrapes had scabbed over, while new scales were growing to replace those lost on his upper chest.

Turian anatomy was complicated, ninety percent of their body was covered in scales and "plating" to help them survive the radioactivity present on Palaven, their home world. On the chest the upper and lower portions were covered in scales and plates while their abdomen was softer more leather like skin. Of course this middle section was where the majority of the damage had taken place, and where the large bruise was currently located.

Alera couldn't help but stare at the wicked looking bruise that covered most of Karkin's stomach, the dark flesh was speckled with blue and black patches, the blue turian blood making it look worse than it really was. Grabbing another container of medi-gel she applied more of the healing salve and re-wrapped bandages around Karkin's chest.

"Well if you're okay with the pain from your ribs and take it easy for a few days you should be clear to return to your squad, I'm sure they would like to see their fearless commander who can't stand to sit still for a few days." replied Alera to the questioning look she got from Karkin.

"Thank you Alera, I do appreciate it," he replied.

Alera's gaze softened as she nodded and turned to grab a set of clothes for Karkin, she had begun keeping a spare set when he kept returning to the medical bay after having an uncanny ability to be rundown by every Krogan they came into contact with.

She handed the clothes to Karkin before turning to the sleeping human and checking the read-outs on her monitor. Her vitals were healthy and she pressed a button stopping the mild sedative flow into her system so that she would wake within the next few hours.

She felt Karkin come and stand behind her, and heard the unspoken question, "She's stable and healthy, she should be up within the next few hours, and I'll let you know as soon as I do."

Karkin only nodded as she turned around and gave another glance to Kira before turning and moving out to the main areas of the ship and back to his squad.

oOo

Karkin quickly moved through the corridors of the ship, navigating to where his crew's quarters were located, he knew they would be looking to see him after his three-day vacation. His thoughts strayed to the woman sleeping in the medical-bay, he wanted to talk to her about what had happened in the merc base as well as what she remembered from the ambush. He remembered back to the relief evident in her silver eyes when he had opened the door to her cell, her weight against him as she fell into his arms...

Karkin stopped the thought there…_why__ the hell am I thinking about that? _Sighing he shook his head and continued on to his quarters.

He moved to his room first, wanting to get a shower and another set of clothes before he talked to the rest of his crew. Moving to his door he quickly tapped in his personal code and stepped into the small room. He hit the button for the shower in the corner and stripped before stepping in.

Twenty minutes later he stepped out, quickly drying and changing into a black tunic and a favored pair of combat fatigues and combat boots designed for turian feet before stepping out into the main corridor to begin looking for his squad. He moved to Norik's door and knocked three times and waited to see if he was in. He heard a groan and shuffling from within and waited for his comrade to collect himself.

The door hissed open revealing a confused and irritated Norik before he recognized who was standing in front of him and his mood brightened considerably as he snapped off a salute.

"At ease Norik, you know I don't like formalities," Karkin spoke. "You know where the rest of the crew is? I'd like to get a quick briefing in before I go talk to the captain."

Norik nodded and motioned toward the direction of the armory and fell in behind Karkin as they started walking to the rest of the crew.

"So what's happened since I've been out?"

"We got the supplies stowed, weapons and equipment cleaned, the file came back on Commander White; she has an impressive record, apparently she was N7 the human special forces unit, and has exceptional marksman skills, however her mission record is a bit lackluster considering what most people with those qualifications are normally assigned to.

Also the captain has orders in, he's waiting to talk with you after you are done here, and the newest shipment came in."

At this Karkin twitched his mandibles, clearly pleased and nodded, "Well sounds like you have everything under control Norik, thank you."

Norik nodded as he replied, "Well you didn't choose me as second in command because I was lazy sir."

Karkin just laughed, shook his head and continued on to the armory and the rest of his unit.

oOo

Kira woke suddenly, quickly slamming her eyes shut against the intense white light. She heard loud beeps and squawks around her only serving to confuse her more, her brain still trying to reset itself after the extended period of rest.

Kira saw the lights dim behind her eyelids and a calm voice came floating through her thoughts, "You're safe commander, you're on board the SSV Manhattan, an Alliance Cruiser, I'm Alera, the ships medical doctor."

Kira stilled, realizing that she was somewhere other than the dark cell that she last remembered being placed in after the ambush...

She quickly opened her eyes and fighting through the temporary blindness and tears she scanned the room looking for anyone who may have survived. In her mind she knew that she had been the only one, but her heart would not let her give up the slim thread of hope that she had clung too through the days she had been imprisoned.

Kira's eyes scanned the empty beds, monitor still and black, no signs of life or that anyone else was present. Looking to her right she saw a blue asari, who she assumed was the doctor, standing over her, eyes filled with concern.

She stared for a second, brain still playing catch-up with the rest of her body; she looked over the doctor's alliance issue uniform, noting that the name on the tag fit the name that had been given to her earlier. Briefly she recognized that she was in a medical bay of a starship before the doctor interrupted her thoughts.

"I'm sorry commander, but you were the only one that was brought up from the surface. No other survivors were found."

Kira stared at the Doctor; _did they always have to be so blunt?_

"I understand..." Kira replied, looking down at the foot of her bed, slumping further into the pillow at her back.

"You are on board the SSV Manhattan, an alliance vessel...you've been unconscious for the last three days. We had to treat you for several drugs and trauma you received either in the ambush or while you were a prisoner of the mercenaries," Alera continued, doing her best to keep the young woman calm as she slowly came to terms with her situation.

Kira stared off into space, her eyes glazing over as she turned inward on herself, not bothering to pay attention as the asari doctor continued speaking to her.

The realization hit her slowly, at first she was angry, angry at the men who attacked her, angry at her imprisonment, furious that she had been unable to do anything other than sit back and watch as her unit died around her. The grief, anger and frustration that had lain dormant in her system finally broke the floodgates and slammed into her like rampant demons set loose on the world.

Her friends, her brothers and sisters, her unit...were dead.

It was the harshest coldest and loneliest feeling in the world and it hit her like an atom bomb.

A single tear slid down her face, her instincts and training took over, keeping her afloat in the tide of emotions; she would grieve later, right now was the time for her to put the pieces back together and get back to what she did best....introducing people to the business end of her assault rifle.

Kira broke out of her thoughts when she realized that the doctor was no longer speaking and was instead giving her a curious look, hands on hips and a rather motherly expression on her face as she stared at the human who was clearly not paying attention to anything she had said.

"Well now that you have decided to rejoin the rest of the world, I wanted you to know that I notified Karkin that you were awake, he wanted to speak with you once you were up." Alera spoke, typing a message on her omni-tool.

Kira's confused expression gained the answer she was looking for as the asari quickly added, "He's the commander who led the rescue squad responsible for finding you and bringing you back here."

A memory quickly dredged its way up through Kira's pain; her rescue, the turian that had opened the door to her cell and carried her out of the mercenary base, and now she had a name to go with the image.

Kira turned to the doctor, folding her hands in her lap as she sat-up in the bed, trying to keep the pain out of her voice as she began to question the doctor on who Karkin was and what exactly had happened.

oOo

Karkin moved quickly to the bridge, knowing full well the low tolerance the Captain had for anyone who was late to their meetings with him. He had a quick discussion with his crew, sorting out the gear they had brought back, selling anything they couldn't use to the requisition crew aboard the ship and received a quick debriefing about what had happened while he had been unconscious, and the news was not exactly pleasant.

_The captain is not going to be pleased__ with all of this_, thought Karkin as his long strides carried him through the corridors of the ship, the talons on his feet clicking against the plasti-steel floors in a nervous tempo.

Crew people scurried about their various tasks, either ignoring or oblivious to the turian's presence near them, but Karkin did notice several glances from the officers that were present in several sections, a few of them being old enough to remember the Relay 314 incident that led to the First Contact war and eventually the inclusion of humanity to the citadel.

He understood the hesitation and fear the in glances he saw, it was rare for turians to operate outside of their own military much less with the alliance_,_ but for a special forces operations team to be serving on an Alliance vessel? That altogether was unique, and it set a lot of the crew on edge, though for the most part the crew and turians left each other alone, though the glances and whispers from the crew never seemed to stop.

Abruptly Karkin was interrupted from his thoughts when he realized that he stood outside the elevator to the bridge, quickly stepping inside Karkin punched the button and ascended to where the captain waited. Crossing his arms over his chest, Karkin tapped one taloned "toe" on the metal floor as he moved inch by painful inch upwards.

_Why do these damn elevators take so long...always and everywhere it's like the engineers of the universe came together and conspired to make everyone late to wherever they were going, _though Karkin as he waited the requisite extremely long time span for the elevator to arrive at its destination.

The lift doors swished open and Karkin stepped out, quickly surveying the scene before him before stepping further into the room.

The commanding officer of the SSV Manhattan was a Captain Pierce, whose service in the Alliance navy was part of a rather large and respectable career, beginning in the early days of Humanity's acceptance into the Citadel. He stood with his arms crossed behind his back, looking like a stereotypical hard ass alliance officer; from his closely cropped salt and pepper hair, his six foot height and immaculate dress uniform.

All about him the bridge crew and CIC officers worked quietly, sending and receiving intelligence, data, communications, deep radar scans, and all the other tasks that a ship's crew needed to do.

Karkin moved forward quickly, tapping his talons on the floor as a way of letting the Captain know he was there and promptly snapped off a salute.

Slowly the Captain turned around and saluted in return, before returning to his previous stance, arms crossed behind his back, speaking quietly as he addressed the turian.

"Commander, thank you for coming up here, I know you prefer to keep our meetings private but I thought you would want to hear this as soon as you were up and about."

Karkin raised an eye ridge and waited for whatever bad news was coming his way, the captain was never one to run around a subject, and if the incident was serious enough to warrant an immediate meeting, it was probably pretty bad.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Captain Taranis looked at Karkin briefly before continuing the briefing.

"A new mission has come in for us and your unit, this is straight from the council, a priority status search and destroy objective. The virus that the mercenaries left on the computer systems pretty much wiped out all of the data, but we were able to retrieve a set of coordinates, the lead to another planet that is known to harbor quite a bit of mercenary and pirate activity as well as who knows what else."

The captain paused waiting for the information to process for Karkin as the turian stood quietly one mandibles tapping in concentration.

"So the council wants us to locate any mercenary bases, and eliminate them? Without any backup or support?"

"Not exactly," replied Captain Taranis, his face still as a stone, "You and your squad will be sent in with a contingent of marines as backup, access to Makos will be provided as well as access to the heavier equipment on board."

Karkin nodded, thinking over the options he had; _access to heavy weapons and Makos would make the job easier and marines as backup would be a nice addition. It's not like we have any option in this anyways, orders are orders._

"Thank you for the information sir, is there any chance we will be heading by the citadel or a military trading post? My crew will need to offload some equipment and resupply if possible."

The captain inclined his head a fraction, a sign that he was thinking, and replied, "If time and travel allow, possibly, but I will not promise anything."

"Thank you sir," just then Karkin's omni-tool beeped indicating a message had been received. Glancing quickly he saw that it had come from Alera; quickly looking up at the captain he got his answer before the question was asked.

"You're dismissed commander; if you need anything else you know where to find me." With that Captain Taranis turned back around arms crossing behind his back as he resumed his position on the bridge.

Karkin quickly snapped a salute, spun on his heel and moved to the elevator and punched the button for the medical deck._ So Kira is awake, hopefully she can provide some answers about what exactly happened down there, and why she was the only one taken._


	5. Chapter 5

After leaving Karkin on his way to the command deck, Norik made his way to the armory where the rest of the team was gathered. The door hissed open as he approached revealing a scene that resembled human children on Christmas day. Xerov, Tarrus and Abraxas were in the middle of numerous weapons crates scattered throughout the room; pulling out assorted weapons, grenades and suits of armor.

The three turians were in a state of shock, the sudden delivery of high explosives, large caliber weapons and enough ammo to take out a small planet temporarily overwhelmed even their military training.

Course that was until Norik started yelling...

"SECURE THAT GEAR SOLDIER!!!"

At the sound of Norik's voice they quickly stopped what they were doing and began repacking the weapons as quickly as they could. Assault rifles, shotguns, missile launchers and various other pieces of gear as well as ammunition blocks were quickly repacked and placed in their containers.

"That's better; I expect some order to be maintained, regardless of your personal ideas on the matter. Now Tarrus status report on what's all here."

Tarrus quickly sent around the inventory list on everyone's omni-tool before beginning his run-down of the equipment in the containers.

"Okay, first off new stuff; we have a few TAC Warhead launchers, latest and greatest, they sync up with our spy drones and we can designate targets then fire and forget. We have HMW equipment, the new Armax Predator armor, as well as a few new options for upgrades in the equipment. Overall there are a ton of new toys for us to take out the mercs with."

If turians could smile, Tarrus would have a huge grin on his face as he talked about the specs on their new equipment. Norik could hear the excitement in his voice and felt a certain excitement about the new gear. Equipment of this caliber never came along unless there was a big mission underway. HMW was the current weapons manufacturer for the Council Spectres, next to nothing was known about them except the fact that their weapons were state of the art and would amongst the rarest to find.

"Whatever is going on...its huge...the new omni-tools we got are Armali Council manufactured. Someone out there is looking out for us it seems; I've never seen this amount of high-end equipment in one place" commented Xerov, who was cracking open a crate with the Armali logo on it.

Norik quickly gave instructions to the three turians expecting orders to come quickly from Karkin.

"Well whatever is going on is huge, and apparently we are a part of it. Tarrus I need you to start racking weapons and store ammo. Xerov, see what you can find out about our current situation, check shipping records on these crates and who authorized them. Abraxas I want you to check our current stock of Medi-gel packs and restock if needed."

Abraxas, Xerov and Tarrus quickly saluted and got to work on their tasks while Norik went find where Karkin had gotten too.

oOo.

Alera had sat with the young commander for a good hour, answering questions and filling in the details she knew from the rescue. To her surprise Kira had kept relatively calm throughout the ordeal, Alera had seen plenty of people crack under lesser pressures than the young woman had just gone through.

Kira was resting now, her system had yet to completely remove all of the drugs and the medi-gel could only heal bruises so fast. Alera was in her office going over reports waiting for Karkin to arrive. A few minutes later she heard the infirmary door open and the sound of talons clicking on the metal floor.

Standing, she powered down her computer and moved out of her office to see Karkin standing at the foot of Kira's bed where he introduced himself and quietly started talking to her. Not wanting to interrupt she stood quietly, listening as they talked.

oOo.

Karkin strode to the medical bay as quickly as he could; Alera's message had said that Kira was up and feeling better and able to talk. The turian needed to ask her a few questions about what had exactly happened and how she came to be captured by the mercs.

Entering the lab Karkin saw that Kira was indeed awake, but still attached to the medical monitors and scanners that made up each bed in the infirmary. Again her silver eyes tracked him as he approached; her expression that of one who had seen too much in too short of a time.

"Your name is Kira correct?" Karkin asked, wanting to start slowly before he began questioning her.

"You must be Karkin then," she replied, "Alera told me you were the one who got me out of the cell and brought me here."

Karkin merely nodded in reply, sensing that Kira had more questions in mind.

Kira took a moment to study her hands before continuing, "I wanted to thank you for that, when I first saw you I thought it was just a dream, I had given up the idea that anyone was coming, much less me being alive if they did."

"We were in the area and got your distress call, we did what was necessary. I am sorry though that we were not able to get there sooner, I know the loss of your unit must be extremely hard for you."

Kira nodded, squeezing her hands together as the dam that held back those thoughts threatened to break.

"If you are feeling well enough, I had a few questions for you, but I will understand if you would prefer to wait." said Karkin, not missing the clenching of her hands.

Kira only shook her head, getting it over now would be better than trying to deal with it later.

"Go ahead, waiting won't help anything."

Karkin only twitched a mandible in some expression Kira didn't understand as he began questioning her on the events that led to her capture. She told him how their squad had been on a patrol, checking the routes used by smugglers and pirates when they were attacked. Two Makos had been destroyed initially and with them a good portion of her unit. The assault was coordinated and extremely effective; they were cut down before any of them could coordinate an effective counter-attack. They had gotten a distress call out, but no one had hopes of help reaching them.

At last it had come down to her and three other soldiers, a grenade had blown them out of their shred of cover and she watched as her men were executed before a rifle butt came down on her helmet knocking her out.

She told the turian everything that happened to her, the torture, drugs, assault and near rape at the hands of her captors. The commander of the mercenaries had stopped it before it got out of hand; however the beatings had not stopped. She didn't know what she had really told them, the pain left her numb and uncomprehending.

Throughout the conversation Karkin sat quietly, having moved a crate near her bed, and only spoke when asking another question. Kira couldn't read anything in his face, turian anatomy being what it was. When it was all over the turian merely sat there watching her and Kira began to grow nervous under his intense scrutiny.

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that..."

It was spoken so quietly Kira wasn't really sure that she had heard Karkin speak at all, but the look in his eyes told her otherwise; it was an expression of sadness and regret, a look that passed from one soldier to another, an understanding of sorts.

Karkin cleared his throat and stood to leave, "I'll leave you to get some rest, let Alera know if you need anything." And with that he left, moving quickly out of the med-bay back to his rooms.

oOo.

Alera watched in shock as the normally stable turian captain rushed from the room after the questioning. The young woman looked like she either wanted to break down right there, or murder the alien; her expressions had moved from shock to pure outrage to a subdued and exhausted look.

The doctor didn't know quite what to do, should she ask if there was anything she could do for the young woman? Or possibly she should go chew out Karkin for his actions, leaving suddenly like that was nearly unacceptable; but Alera had doubts as to whether or not it was completely intentional.

As long as Alera had known the turian's that made up their small unit she had never known them to run from any kind of a situation, well except for Xerov, but that was a different matter.

She knew Karkin had a few black areas in his life, but she didn't think that it would be anything to affect him in that sort of way.

Shaking her head resignedly Alera moved to speak with Kira about what happened before talking to Karkin about his actions later.

oOo.

For the next few hours the turians worked on storing supplies, checking weapons and overall waiting patiently for more information about what exactly was going on.

Xerov hadn't managed to find out anything about the crates, only that they were citadel authorized and apparently someone had called in a huge favor because spectre status was written all over the sealed records.

Abraxas had filled out the needed forms for medical supplies and was busy packing up medical kits and omni-gel.

Tarrus had the time of his life stripping down and rebuilding the new equipment with the team's preferred modifications and upgrades. With new technology came new parameters and Tarrus spent the better part of an hour on each gun dialing in the team's preferred settings. Lighter trigger pulls, brighter sight settings, various ammunition components and the like.

Norik had since met up with Karkin and they were going over the current intelligence courtesy of the salarian STG teams out in the field. Apparently someone had been planning this operation for quite a long time.

Kira since being on board the SSV Manhattan was back to somewhat normal, the toxins having been removed and her strength slowly building while she spent time talking with Dr. Alera. She mainly questioned the doctor about the circumstances leading to the turian team being on the human run ship in the first place.


	6. Chapter 6

Shepard closed down her computer satisfied that her wishes had been carried out to her specifications; even with her Spectre status some people just didn't understand the meaning on anonymous. She leaned back in her chair and ran a hand through her short red hair, wishing military regulations would allow her to grow it longer than just past her ears. Shepard caught a reflection of herself in the computer's screen and she bit back a moan at her appearance.

The low light in the room revealed a tired looking woman with red hair and green eyes who hadn't had a peaceful day in three weeks and was looking forward to the short vacation at the citadel as soon as her meeting with the council was finished.

Caught up in her thoughts she didn't hear her door open to the room or hear anyone enter until she felt a hot breath on her neck.

"Working late?" the odd turian double voice sent a shiver down her spine.

"Yea, I just had some business to finish with, sorry about that." she said with a small smile, standing up to face him directly.

"Good because we're nearing the citadel and you need some sleep before you go see the council tomorrow." He replied as hugged her against himself and began rubbing her back, though his talons were essentially sharp knives his dexterity allowed him to quickly relax her tensed muscles. As he did so Shepard laid her head against his plated chest and listened to his heartbeat for a moment before pulling away and began getting ready for bed. Garrus did the same and Shepard took a moment to admire his form.

He was lean and muscled, much like any turian, his tan and brown colored skin accented by the blue markings on his face that represented the colony he came from. His stomach was a pale cream color that felt like soft leather while harder metallic feeling scales covering the rest of his chest and body. He looked over at her and Shepard could feel herself blush slightly for being caught staring, he only twitched a mandible and motioned for her to join him at her bed. Shedding her pants and jacket she quickly tossed on a pair of shorts and crawled underneath the sheets waiting for him to join her. Following suit he settled next to her, his warmth relaxing her as he pulled her close, talons caressing her stomach and a low rumble coming from his chest.

"So what were you working on that required your attention this late at night?" Garrus quietly questioned her.

"Just a request that someone needed confirmation to proceed with is all, I just didn't have to get to it until now." was her reply.

"Azrael I worked at C-Sec remember...I can tell you're not telling me everything."

Azrael Shepard sighed against Garrus as she realized that she hadn't really told him everything about the business she was working on and his instincts would pick up on it. Turning to face him she looked into his eyes and for a moment got caught up in the deep blue pools. Blinking quickly she answered his question.

"Garrus I promise you that it's nothing important, I'll explain it all later, I promise." She quickly pressed her lips to his in a pseudo kiss, feeling his arms tighten around her pulling her into his embrace. One of his hands came up and massaged her head, fingers wrapping themselves in her hair. She always laughed at his fascination with it, but then again she was fascinated by the spikes that made up his head so the feeling was mutual. Of course the sensations he gave her just with his touch were more than enough reason to allow him his curiosity.

Garrus pulled back and looked down at her, "You need sleep Shepard..." he could see that she wanted more from him, but her current state of exhaustion was of more concern to him.

Shepard could only nod at his statement, being a spectre didn't allow for much free time and she hadn't been able to get some alone time with Garrus for what she qualified as forever.

"Fine...but as soon as I'm done with the council you're mine."

Garrus could only chuckle at her aggressive tone and pulled her closer to him softly purring to her as he quietly hummed a turian lullaby to her in his native language while she fell asleep curled against him.

oOo.

The Normandy docked at the citadel and Shepard announced that the crew had a three day break before their next assignment. The crew went about their separate business; Ashley, Liara and Tali had planned a girl's night out at Flux while Joker and Wrex were headed to Chora's Den for their personal time.

The last thing Shepard wanted to do was to meet with the council, and an hour after landing that was where she found herself. The council had some choice words for her after the last mission she had gone on for them. The destruction of an entire mercenary base along with a good portion of the mining complex had left some bad feelings with the mining corporation who had originally built the complex.

Shepard left the meeting with the council with a bitter taste in her mouth; it wasn't her fault that the mercenaries had planted charges within the base for the sole purpose of leveling it. Course Wrex blowing the leader's head off before she could get him to deactivate the detonation sequence didn't help things either but that of course was her fault as well. The only good part to the day was that her previous request had been taken care of.

Now all she wanted to do was get out of her uniform, take a hot shower and relax with Garrus..._speak__ing of which where is that turian? _She asked herself as she exited the council chambers and began the trek back to her apartment.

Twenty minutes later Shepard was punching in her code to the apartment that was one of the perks of her spectre status. It was comfortable, not huge but large enough for her and Garrus to have something to come back to.

She walked in to a dark room, quickly flipping on the lights Azrael took a quick look around before realizing that Garrus wasn't waiting for her. Frowning she wondered again where he was before she closed her door and moved into her bedroom and getting ready for the shower that she had been wanting since she landed at the citadel.

Azrael quickly stripped and stepped into her shower, letting her worries and tension be carried away by the hot water.

oOo.

Garrus was running late and he knew it, his shopping time in the presidium had grown to be longer than expected and he knew Azrael would be furious when he finally got back to her apartment. Running up to her door he quickly tapped in the code prepared to apologize, very surprised when instead the door opened to one Azrael Shepard who grabbed him by the front of his shirt and hauled him physically into the room before the door closed. The following could only be described as extreme in the fact that Garrus had never known Azrael was that flexible.

oOo.

After what seemed like an eternity Garrus lay on his back with Azrael tucked into his side tracing patterns on his stomach. Their clothes were strewn across the room in Azrael's hasty removal of anything he was wearing. They were lying under the sheets on her bed resting after relieving their pent up sexual tension.

"Missed me much did you?" he asked with a smirk in his voice.

"Only a little, I missed what you could do with those talons of yours" Azrael teased playfully leaning up to kiss a tender spot on his neck.

"I should have known that you only wanted to use me," he responded, the lack of a tone in his voice forcing Azrael to look at his eyes to see if he was joking or not. He twitched a mandible indicating a smile and pressed his mouth to her forehead in a turian kiss. Seeing as they lacked true lips it was a little difficult for them to kiss but Azrael understood the meaning behind it.

"Sometimes I don't know why I keep you around you overgrown lizard."

Garrus only raised an eye ridge and promptly reminded her why she kept him around and why he was there to stay.

oOo.

Karkin was exhausted, and with good reason; he had gone through three hours of physical exercise ranging from combat practice to weight lifting. He was currently practicing an ancient combat art that was a part of turian culture long before his time. It mixed what humanity considered martial arts with sword play; today it was more of a ceremonial tradition but it helped him let go and concentrate on the movements.

The "swords" he was using were in fact weighted batons, but they served his purpose. He went through the motions again and again trying to take his mind off of the story Kira had told him in the medical bay. He was sickened by the mercenaries' actions and if he didn't work off his stress he was liable to seriously injure someone. So he had gone to the private training area sectioned off in their storage bay and began his routines.

Karkin knew someone had walked in when he saw the door shift out of the corner of his eye, but he was too involved in his routine to pay attention at the moment. Several minutes later he finished, tired and feeling better he turned to the figure seated on a storage crate.

"Norik?" he questioned.

Norik stood and motioned with a pair of batons back to the training mat. Karkin only nodded, knowing that until they finished he wouldn't get any answers out of him.

Both turians settled into their preferred stances; Norik quickly started in on a blurring series of strikes, leaving Karkin pushed back a few meters. Karkin quickly pressed forward, striking low forcing Norik to adjust his position allowing him a strike on his arm. Norik reeled back and steadied himself for the next attack. According to the traditional rules, three strikes on an opponent decided victory; however Karkin didn't know how far Norik was going to take this and decided to get it over as soon as possible.

The next few minutes were a blur of strikes and maneuvers, the turians were well versed in this style of combat and neither was willing to give ground. They danced around each other a blur of blue and black scales with the _thwack_ of batons hitting each other. Ducking beneath one of Karkin's attacks Norik swiped at his leg forcing Karkin's quick retreat. Norik followed up and caught Karkin in the side before dancing backwards a challenge in his eye. Karkin only huffed before moving into a quick series of strikes that were designed to disorient the target quickly scoring a hit on Norik's thigh before the turian had a chance to block it.

They moved through several more maneuvers, Norik needing two more hits to win while Karkin only needed one more strike. It came in a rush of motions that Norik hadn't seen before and was unsure of how to defend against it properly. It would seem his leader hadn't exhausted his knowledge of the fighting art with them when he taught them. The match ended with Norik on one knee with Karkin's baton resting on his shoulder. He was blocking the baton in Karkin's left hand while his rested against Karkin's side.

The turian only shook his head as his commander pulled away before getting up and moving towards the storage rack and putting his batons away. He joined Karkin on a makeshift bench made up of storage crates and grabbed a water before explaining why he was here in the first place.

"I came to tell you that we got a shipment of equipment in, a specialized carrier brought it, and apparently Xerov couldn't trace the origin, something about spectre status all over any kind of access." Norik began after they sat for a few minutes.

"That's what you came to tell me about? I hardly think that was an immediate concern here..." came the expected reply.

"I figured it was worth knowing, whoever sent the equipment knew about this before hand and is apparently looking out for us...to be honest it's odd."

Karkin nodded, it was out of the ordinary that someone would send high quality equipment without any kind of traceable path back to the origin. Standing up he motioned for Norik to follow him out of the training room. "Well I think that we shouldn't look into it too much just yet, we've got a huge assignment ahead of us and worrying about something like this won't change the facts."

"Yes sir...also were you able to talk to the human that we brought back from the planet?" questioned Norik quietly.

Karkin noticed the slight change of tone his friend had, but didn't question it deciding that it wasn't worth dealing with at the moment. "You mean Kira. Yes I did, and I just got her side of the events that led to her capture."

Norik simply nodded and the two continued on towards their respective rooms with Karkin tapping out a message to his team to meet in the rec-room in twenty minutes.

oOo.

Abraxas was making his way back from their medical supply room when he received the message to meet. He ducked into his room to drop off the team's medical files, deciding that he would return them to Alera later and walked quickly to their private recreational room. Xerov and Tarrus were already inside quietly talking, as usual Tarrus was cleaning some new weapon he found and Xerov was busy on his portable computer going through some file or another.

"Xerov, Tarrus." was the short greeting Abraxas gave before sitting down in the corner of the room.

"You know what the boss wanted to see about?" Tarrus asked directing the question towards Abraxas.

"No but I'm sure it has to do with the new orders, but other than that I'm on the same level as yourselves." he replied.

"Well it's something big, the shipping files were completely restricted and there wasn't even a thread to go back and trace, whoever sent the equipment wanted to remain anonymous. Not that I'm surprised the equipment that came in wasn't exactly typical military, and whoever did send it would have some enormous pull with either the council or a black market trader…and I doubt we have any friends in the black market" added Xerov with a snort.

Tarrus just nodded and began reassembling the pistol he was working on. "Wait, you think any of this has to do with that human we rescued? It would seem odd that the day we pick her up from that mercenary base we receive a full weapons shipment and we're meeting for what I'm assuming are combat orders."

"More than likely, I didn't get a close look at her, but from what I saw she was in pretty bad shape, the council and the Alliance will probably want answers about it and I'm sure we're about to be neck deep in it." replied Abraxas.

"You would be right Abraxas, our orders come from the council directly." commented Karkin as he walked into the room, Norik closing the door behind him.

All three turians quickly snapped a salute, which Karkin returned before motioning them to sit back down.

"So what's this all about sir?" questioned Xerov as Karkin transferred information from his omni-tool to the holo-projector in the middle of the room.

"Essentially it's a search and destroy mission. The ambush we saw was something that runs deeper than just an attack against the Alliance military. There's been evidence to show that a coordinated network is being setup and that someone is organizing various mercenary groups for a purpose." Tapping a few keys information started flowing across the projection of a screen.

"The council is providing us with Alliance marine support as well as heavy equipment including the new Mako. We have several priority targets that the salarian STG teams have given us; we will be proceeding there immediately, so I want everyone to get equipment checked and ready for use. Tarrus I'm sure you've got most of it secured, once we get to our destination and we have more information I'll send you a list of what we need."

"Yes sir; all of the heavy weapons are stowed and I'm finishing up with our personal equipment."

"Xerov I want you to go through the files I've uploaded to your terminal, the Salarian's have managed to get us pretty detailed information of the ground base, and I'll need approaches and possible issues forwarded to me within the hour."

"I'll get right on that sir." Xerov replied, immediately moving through the files he received and organizing them.

"Abraxas, unfortunately from the reports I have the planet isn't atmosphere friendly, talk with Alera and see what she has to say about it, pertinent information has been forwarded to her computer."

"I'll let you know what I find sir."

Turning once again to the holo-screen in front of him Karkin continued; "Alright, Captain Taranis said we should be arriving at our destination within a few hours, you have your assignments get to them."

Everyone rose and quickly saluted before filing out of the room the three younger turians; Xerov, Abraxas and Tarrus talking about equipment while Norik followed behind them muttering about excitable youth. Karkin only chuckled to himself, his team may be extremely combat effective, but for the most part they acted like a dysfunctional family on-board the ship. He felt his stomach catch up with the fact that he hadn't eaten in the last few days and he made his way to the mess hall to grab a meal.


	7. Chapter 7

Kira wasn't sure how long it had been since the turian had talked to her but it felt like several hours had passed at the very least. The asari doctor had come in to check on her several times mentioning that she was making good progress…whatever that meant. Another turian had come in to talk with the doctor, something about a planet's atmosphere. For the most part Kira had tuned them out, turning inwards to sort out the mess she was in; she was the last survivor in her unit after the ambush, she had been taken and tortured for information and now she didn't know what to do, being stuck on the SSV Manhattan wasn't exactly her idea of a good time.

_Though it would be worse if I was on an alien ship, at least this one is under human control. _

"Kira how would you feel about a shower, clothes and some hot food?" asked the doctor as she came to stand by Kira's bed. The soldier laughed, a forced sound that didn't carry much humor with it; "That would be great doc."

"The shower is in the corner there, I'll go get some fatigues for you to wear, take as long as you need" the doctor pointed at a corner of the room before turning to grab said clothing.

Moving slowly as most of her body still ached from hanging in her cell she made her way over to the shower and removed was essentially was a extra long t-shirt before getting in and praising every religious deity she knew for hot water and shampoo. She scrubbed her skin raw in an attempt to get every last particle of dust off of her skin from the planet she emerged twenty minutes later to a set of standard navy fatigues and boots left sitting on the table next to the shower. She dressed quickly noticing that the clothing fit her well and she couldn't help but wonder how the doctor knew her size. Catching her reflection in the reflection on the table she winced, apparently she looked much worse than she felt. There were faint bruises around her face, a black eye that was just fading and a few cuts that were nearly healed. Sighing she shook her head, ran a hand through her hair and turned to look around for the asari doctor. She spun at the sound of a door opening behind her and saw the doctor walk in with a tray of food that she set on the table next to the bed Kira had been occupying.

"Feeling better I hope?"

"Yes I am thank you. I appreciate the food as well, if you don't mind me asking how long have I been on-board the ship?" Kira asked sitting down before eating the beef stew that was sitting steaming on the tray.

"I believe it's been around three to four days since you were brought on-board" was the unexpected reply. Nearly choking Kira snapped her head up at the answer and stared at the asari.

"Three to four days? I was out for that long?"

"Yes, we had to put you under until your body was able to expel the toxins in your system, as well as repair itself. It was easiest and faster if we kept you under rather than awake." Alera replied while she peeled the orange she had brought for herself.

Kira only nodded shocked that three days had passed already. She went back to eating while questioning the doctor about the ship and the turian that had visited her earlier in the day.

"Karkin is the commander of a special detachment of what in essence is a turian Special Forces unit, similar to your N-seven program. They are working with the alliance as a cooperation effort for better relations between their culture and yours. Captain Taranis was probably one of the only captains that would willing take them aboard."

"So the alliance and the turian military are working together? How come I haven't heard of this before?"

"From what I understand the whole situation is somewhat of a sore point with several figures in both military hierarchies, so the less attention drawn to it the better."

Kira nodded, "I guess that would make sense, regardless I'm glad the captain was in the area to get our…my…distress call."

Before Alera could reassure the young woman her terminal beeped indicating that she had a waiting message.

"If you're able the captain would like to see you now, I can show you to the bridge if you would like." Noticing a glimmer of apprehension in Kira's eyes she quickly added, "I can take you there if you like, I know this rushed but the sooner we can get your situation sorted out the easier it will be for you."

Normally Kira would have scoffed at being offered help, after all most alliance ships were built nearly the same way so finding her way to the bridge wouldn't be that hard, however in her condition as well as the issue of having to meet with the captain, Kira was more than happy to accept the doctor's offer.

Ten minutes later saw them waiting for the elevator to bring them to the command deck of the cruiser. The doors slid open and Kira was faced with a rush of activity as commands were given and directions shouted all around the command center. In the middle of it all stood Captain Taranis, calm as a frozen river in the midst of the general rush.

Alera ushered Kira forward before clearing her throat to get the captain's attention. Kira stood at attention, figuring that following standard military protocol at this point would be the best idea. Snapping off a salute when the captain turned she waited for a response.

Taranis returned the gesture and motioned for Kira to follow him. "I'm sure you would rather speak in a quieter setting commander, normally the bridge is must less rushed but with the ground teams landing in less than twenty minutes we're coordinating a number of men groundside."

Kira only nodded, she wasn't sure how the military politics worked on board and she didn't want to start off on the wrong foot from the get go.

"Captain if you'll excuse me I have some work that needs to get done down in the medical bay."

"Of course Alera, thank you for bringing the commander here."

Alera nodded before stepping back into the elevator and disappearing from sight as the doors closed.

Kira followed the captain to what looked to be a briefing room where he motioned for her to sit before following suit himself and the doors closed them off from the noise of the command center.

"So Commander White, you're part of N7, been a commander for about a year now and have served in a variety of missions with the Alliance." The captain raised an eyebrow clearly expecting an answer.

"Yes sir, I enlisted at eighteen and progressed quickly, according to my CO's I had a natural talent for tactics. I successfully completed the N7 program at twenty-two and was granted command of my former unit a few months after that."

"I'm sorry for your loss commander; I know how hard that is to deal with. If there is one piece of advice I can give you, it would be to remember the men instead of the battle. You can't change what's already happened and too much thinking on it will only drive you to places you don't want to go."

Shocked Kira really didn't know what to say, she could only nod as the captain's words slowly sunk in. She was expecting the typical response, but the captain sounded like he knew exactly what he was talking about.

Taranis continued, "As for why I've asked you here I wanted to talk to you before I talked with the higher ups in the network. Normally you'd be reassigned and probably put off active duty for counseling and a debriefing with a psychiatrist. Something I'm sure you would rather not deal with…"

Kira shook her head, "No sir, I'd prefer to be put back into duty, not giving me something to do would only make dealing with it harder. That and I am not a particular fan of the military counselors."

"I thought not, I do have a proposal for you however. Your background is extremely active and as such I would hate to see it squandered, so I would like to offer you a position here on the ship, the marines on board will be assisting the turians in a large scale operation and we could use a commander like you in the field with them."

To say that Kira was shocked would be an understatement, out of all of the ideas that had run through her head at the mention of a proposal this was nowhere amongst them. She sat like a fish out of water for a few moments before gathering her composure.

"If that's what you would want sir…"

"Yes commander, I spoke with Karkin about the idea just before they dropped planet side and he believes that you would be a good choice for the job. Both he and I agreed that someone with your particular skill set is someone we would like to be able to count on."

"I don't know what to say really…I'm not in the best of shape at the moment and it's been a while since I've done anything larger than patrols in various sectors."

"Don't worry about that just yet, you'd have a little while before we would need you to active on this, and I'm sure in that time both the marines and the turians can get you back into shape for it. We really do want you on this; it's not just a random request."

The captain looked at her seriously and she wondered how long they had been planning to ask her this. The expression on captain Taranis' face was serious enough for her to believe it had been a good while in planning.

"Well if it's okay with the Alliance Command then I would accept I really don't have much to go back to so this would be preferable to therapy and a possible desk job back home."

Taranis nodded at her acceptance, "Though I would have to ask that if anything comes up that you can't deal with or will affect you negatively that you talk to someone I won't throw you into something if you're not ready for it."

"Yes sir, I will."

"Alright that's what I wanted to discuss with you commander, the only room we have for officers is near the turian quarters, unless you would want to sleep in the marine quarters?"

"The room is fine sir; I'm assuming that Karkin and his unit will be doing most of the planning for this anyways so I'd prefer to be involved with that." Kira replied her tactical and analytical thinking method making it known.

"Of course, take the elevator down to cargo bay 3, there will only be one room open so it shouldn't be hard to find. Unless there is anything else commander you are dismissed, talk to the requisitions officer down there for equipment and clothing. I apologize for my abruptness in this conversation, but between our current operation and the planning needed for the continuing missions we are working beyond our normal capacity. We will have a more formal meeting once this operation is over so we can fill you in on the details."

"I understand sir, thank you for the opportunity."

Taranis nodded and quickly stood and left, the doors opening to the roar of the orders being shouted and the general mayhem of the command deck.

_Apparently he doesn't stand on tradition much…_Kira thought to herself her hand already halfway to a salute as the captain walked out. She walked out of the briefing room and wove her way through various officers and soldiers to the elevator and after another long wait found herself walking into the cargo bay.

The main area was a rather large storage room with two Mako armored personnel carriers parked in the mechanic pits with various crates and storage lockers scattered around the walls. An armory sat on the other side of the cargo bay, rows of various weapons, mods and armor lay in open crates and in storage racks. A series of doors were on the far wall of the cargo bay and Kira walked towards them figuring that they were the sleeping arrangements captain Taranis had mentioned. The last door on the left was the only open one and Kira quickly entered an access code that she could remember and stepped inside. It was the standard room, bare except for the necessities. There was a storage locker for armor and weapons, a bunk tucked into the corner and a small bathroom "area" which was more or less a cupboard, sink, toilet and shower.

_Well it could be worse, I could be in the common area wit__h the marines…_thought Kira while she closed and locked her door and began her search for the requisitions officer.

Several hours later Kira had finished putting away her several uniforms, cleaned and customized her armor and weapons and took a brief shower. Currently she was lying on her bed reading through the files on the turian unit that she would be working with. She was impressed with their service records, she knew that military training on Palaven started early but from what the files said the five turians that made up the unit had been fast tracked straight through to what was in human terms, Special Forces training. Their accomplishments had shown their prowess however as much of the record was eyes-only-classified. She did notice that they had been working with captain Taranis for a few years now; it struck her as odd that the turian military would allow that, but then again who was she to make those kinds of decisions. Her eyes drifted back to the face of a certain black turian and the memory of her rescue and she couldn't help but wonder how they were doing down planet side…

oOo

"INCOMING, GET DOWN!"

Five turian commandos hit the deck as a rocket screamed overhead and exploded on a nearby wall raining down debris and smoke. Karkin resumed firing at the mercenaries who had made it their personal goal to frag his squad and to be honest they weren't that far from accomplishing it. Sounds of rifle fire and grenades filled the cavernous hall where a spectacular firefight was approaching its peak. Karkin, Xerov and Abraxas were pinned down by the entrance to the bay while Norik and Tarrus were on the balcony above them doing their best to provide fire support. Unfortunately between the smoke, debris and a large amount of gunfire that was becoming increasingly hard to do.

"Hazard hit the three mercs behind the crates with one of the launchers! Reaper I need suppressing fire so we can move out of here!" though he sounded calm over the radio Karkin was anything but; they were pinned down by at least fifteen mercenaries with how knew how many more as reinforcements. Bodies were strewn across the room and there were numerous holes and chunks taken out of the walls from explosives and bullets from both sides. However this all came at a cost, the team was running out of ammo, they had all taken numerous hits with a few getting past their shields and now they were running low on medi-gel. If Shadow had to sum the situation in one word he preferred the human phrase of "FUBAR."

The plan had gone off without a hitch, having successfully infiltrated the mercenary base and eliminating all hostiles without incident the team had been about to leave after obtaining the files they needed when what seemed to be the clean-up crew showed up. Presumably they had cloaking systems to avoid radar tracking because they hadn't heard anything from the SSV Manhattan. Then things got nasty, and in short order complete chaos reigned free and Karkin suspected that the deity of war was having a good chuckle at their expense. Needless to say the turian commander was above and beyond angry.

"Sir we need to move!" shouted Abraxas over the radio, he was unloading his pistol as fast as he could at any mercs who decided to pop up, his shotgun lay beside him hit by a tech-mine that disabled the firing systems.

"Norik please tell me you've got us covered…"

"I'm working on it sir, we're taking a lot of fire up here, give us a second and we'll clear a way for you." replied Norik.

Beside him Tarrus worked on reloading the launcher he had, the shells were somewhat of an issue to reload under the amount of enemy fire they were receiving and he was working as quickly as he could.

"Good to go sir! Tell me where you want it."

"Finally Tarrus; hit the door in the middle, we can't keep this up if they get more reinforcements, as soon as they duck we'll be running to the sides to try and flank them, I need you and Norik to keep up the fire on them."

"Copy that sir, firing in three, two, one…"

And with a whoosh the rocket left the launcher a second one trailing it. In a matter of seconds several things happened at once; Karkin, Xerov and Abraxas dashed left towards a series of pillars and crates, the first rocket hit the door across the room and sent mercenaries diving for cover if they hadn't been blown away from the impact. The second rocket hit the hallway behind the door collapsing the ceiling and providing a momentary block that would hinder any reinforcements.

Tarrus dropped the launcher and along with Norik started shooting at anything left moving in an attempt to distract the enemy from seeing the rest of the team attempting to flank them. Norik and Tarrus quickly moved from their vantage point seeking a better angle on the now disrupted and confused enemy. They could hear the crack of Xerov's sniper rifle as high explosive rounds turned their targets into small pieces of tattered flesh and charred armor. After a quick look Norik figured they had taken out at least five or six of the enemy leaving roughly nine and with another rifle shot that number turned to eight, which to him were considerably better odds.

"Commander you have three tangos immediately to your right as you approach with another five separated by a stack of crates. Advise that you move quickly."

Norik got a blink on his HUD confirming that Karkin had heard him, when three radar signatures disappeared from his map he tapped Tarrus on the shoulder and quickly ran around the catwalk hoping to get into a position to drop a few frag grenades on the remaining mercenaries before their buddies showed up. Tarrus was behind him quickly pulling out two fragmentation grenades and tossing them towards the crates hoping to at least injure one or two of the mercs.

Karkin and his squad meanwhile were in the middle of decimating the three unlucky mercenaries who were in front of them with two shotgun blasts and a burst from Karkin's assault rifle. The team kept moving ducking behind cover as their HUD's showed the path of a grenade falling from the catwalk above them towards the entrenched enemy. Two explosions later and a cry of pain Karkin vaulted over the crates already firing at the two dazed mercenaries while Xerov and Abraxas finished off the other two and Xerov pumped a final round into the unlucky one who was closest to the grenades when they went off.

"Alright we're running out of time here, Tarrus I want an exit on the northern wall now!"

"Copy that sir, one exit on its way." replied Tarrus.

Looking around Karkin quickly took in the amount of destruction and carnage his team had accomplished in a very short time, he scanned for any possible threats while the rest of the team did the same covering Tarrus as he set explosives on the wall.

"Exit set sir, firing in three, two, one…"

The explosion ripped the air pressure out of the base and the armor the team was wearing automatically sealed itself to compensate. Karkin raised one hand in a motion for everyone to exit; Tarrus and Norik were already out of the base making sure that there were no threats on the outside. The five turians regrouped and quickly headed away from the base while Karkin activated the extraction signal for their pick up.


End file.
